


Symbiont

by talefeathers



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7000183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens at the end of a symbiotic relationship?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symbiont

Enjolras wondered what happened at the end of a symbiotic relationship in nature.

He had never been much of a one for science, but he remembered symbiosis. He remembered his high school biology teacher grinning her way tiredly through a slice of cheesy advice she had probably given a million times: 

“Symbiosis is what you’re looking for in a relationship; something that is mutually beneficial,” she’d said. “You don’t want commensalism, where only one party benefits from being together, and you _certainly_ don’t want parasitism. You want everyone involved in whatever you’re into to be getting something out of it.”

And as cheesy as it was, he had internalized that, and he liked to think that most of his relationships did indeed follow this model. He surrounded himself with people that he felt supported by, and he did his best to support them in return. Each of his friends brought something unique and essential into his life and he made sure to give something back to each of them at every opportunity.

But he wanted to know what happened when one of these mutually beneficial relationships ended. He wanted to know what would happen, for instance, to a clownfish if the sea anemone protecting it were to die, suddenly and without warning.

He wanted to ask Combeferre what would happen, what was _supposed_ to happen. He wanted to ask Combeferre what an organism was supposed to do in the face of something so devastating, what _he_ was supposed to do. 

Combeferre would have known.


End file.
